The present invention relates to electric wire harnesses, more particularly to a new and improved apparatus to facilitate the fabricating of wire harnesses.
Wire harnesses are commonly fabricated on a jig board on which are mounted various wire-holding devices. In practice, wires are inserted into these devices one at a time, and these devices must hold each wire in its installed location while the harness is being fabricated. When all wires have been so located, those wires lying on a common path are bound together with strap or string, or the like into a completed wire harness which is then removed from the jig board and installed in its intended end use.
Many existing wire holding devices do not hold such groups of wires into a circular grouping which is most desirable to insure that binding devices will remain snug after the wire harness is removed from the jig board. For example, if a group of wires is not circular when a binder is applied, the binder will subsequently be loose when the wire harness is removed from the jig board and the wires are free to assume a circular grouping. Also, in addition to the foregoing, it is highly desirable to retain the wires at a distance from the jig board to facilitate the looping of a binder strap around the wires and to allow appropriate buildup of a round group of wires.
Further, it is an object of this invention to provide a wire bundle retainer which will accommodate a wide range of bundle sizes and to hold irregularly shaped objects. Also, it is an object of this invention to provide a retainer having an elastic for gripping objects which has a limiting elastic characteristic which will provide nonelastic strength after a predetermined elastic stretch.